Self-contained suction cleaner



July 12, 1949. F. K. STORM, JR

SELF-CONTAINED SUCTION CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 24, 1945 KSwen/1,112

INVENTOR.

July 12, 1949. F. K. STORM, JR

v SELF-CONTAINED SUCTION CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 24, 1945ike'aee/cz K 5 men, Mk

I N V EN TOR.

ATTOENA'K Patented July 12, 1949- I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICESELF-CONTAINED suc'nou cnnmnn Frederlck'K. Storm, In, Los Angeles,Calif.

Application September 24, 1945, Serial No. 618,210

' 4 Claims. (01. 15-346) This invention pertains to improvements invacuum cleaners and is particularly directed to a low, compact, bagless,self-contained vacuum cleaner in which air ducts are arranged so as toefiiciently separate foreign matter picked up by the vacuum cleaner fromthe air stream in which such foreign matter is carried. I

The art of vacuum cleaners may be traced back to street-cleaningmachines and since early times attempts have been made to recirculatethe air used in picking up foreign objects. from the ground. After thedirt or foreign objects had been separated from the air stream such airstream was supposed to be returned to the suction nozzle. A householdsweeper must be low' and compact so as to be able to be used beneathrungs of chairs, under beds, in corners, etc. it must be suiiieientlylight in weight and compact so that a housewife may readily and easilymove the device. Moreover, the arrangement of. ducts within the machinemust be such that lint and dust may be 'geifectively picked up fromcarpets, rugs, etc., and

Q bagless recirculating type may be formed by emrelationship, theoverall height of the vacuum cleaner'is materially reduced and byproviding the fan with a pair of opposing outlets, the air withdrawnfrom the rear chamber (through the air filter) is emciently returned tothe sweeper port.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide animproved type of vacuum ploying two, spaced, substantially parallelsuction ducts and a single return duct, the minimum cross-sectional areaof the: suction ducts being approximately twice as great as the minimumuum cleaner. would discharge considerable quantitles of air into theroom being cleaned, in actual practice no such dissemination of dust isobserved and instead an efllcient cleaning of floors,

rugs and carpets is attained. Moreover, by positioning the suction ductson opposite sides of the main housing of the vacuum cleaner and causingsuch suction ducts to communicate a virtually flat, transverselyextending sweeper port witha (approximating a segment of a sphericalzone in I Fig. 1.

cleaner which is low, compact and self contained.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bagless,self-contained vacuum cleaner in which a plurality of suction ducts areutilized, these ducts discharging into a relatively large, rounded,dust-collecting chamber whereln'centrifugal force and opposing aircurrents efficiently remove dust from the air streams and permit suchair streams to be withdrawn as a single,clean, air stream for,

use in picking up additional dirt.

A still further object is to provide a vacuum cleaner including a pairof horizontally spaced, substantially parallel duct means forsimultaneously' admitting two cofluent streams of dustladen air intoopposite sides of a single dust-collecting chamber, and a single suctionmeans, positioned between said ducts, for withdrawing dust-free air fromthe dust-collecting chamber in a direction opposed to the direction offlow of dust-laden air through the ducts.

Again, an object of the invention is to disclose and provide a method ofoperation whereby dust may be removed from streams of dust-laden air IFig. 1 is a side elevation of the vacuum cleaner,

the handle and lead-in wires being omitted.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the device shown in Fig. 3 is a longitudinalsection taken along the plane III-III of Fig. 2, the motor, fan and ageneral form), and by withdrawing the air thus 1 wardly extending zoneor chamber while the air.

is returned to the suction port. Furthermore, by positioning a motor,fan and air filter in aligned, horizontally disposed, longitudinallyextending filter being shown in elevation.

Fig. 4 is a ,plan view with a part of the cover broken away.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken along the plane V-V in Fig. 3. Fig.6 is a transverse section taken along the plane VI-VI in Fig. 3.

It will be evident from Figs. 1, 2 and 4 that the vacuum cleaner of thepresent invention is relawws vely low and flat, and is provided with asubstantially straight front and rounded rear portion. The housing orcase of the vacuum cleaner may be contoured in a variety of ways and inso far as the present invention is concerned, the contours of the frontportion of the vacuum cleaner are not important. It is essential,however, that the front portion be provided with a substantially flat,horizontal, transversely extending sweeping port and that the rearportion of the vacuum cleaner form a rounded chamber approximating theshape of one-half of a spherical segment.

In the example illustrated, the device includes a base I, the frontalportion of such base having upstanding sides 2, an upwardly curvingfront edge portion 3, and a transversely extending, horizontal sweepingport 4. The base i may be provided with an upwardly inclined portion 5leading to a vertically disposed step 6, the base then continuingrearwardly in a virtually horizontal plane as indicated at 1. Suitablesupporting wheels may be provided at 8, 9 and ID. The wheels 8 and I maybemid way of the sides of such base, whereas the wheels 9 may bepositioned adjacent the sides of the base.

The housing is suitably attached to this base and may include arearwardly curving front portion II, a substantially horizontal top I2,and rearwardly extending sides l3 and I4, these sides curving upwardlyand inwardly so as to form a rounded rear portion, generally indicatedat l5.

This rounded rear portion l5 may be separable from the rest of thehousing and be parted therefrom along a line of juncture l6. Moreover,this rounded rear portion i5 may be connected to a bottom I! adapted torest upon or interlock with the rearward extension 1 of the base Thebottom |'I may be provided with an upstanding frontal lip I8 adapted toabut the step 6 formed in thebase member In effect, therefore, the rear,rounded, dust-collecting portion of the vacuum cleaner (including themembers i5, i1 and I8) constitutes a dust pan which may be removablyconnected to the rest of the device in any suitable manner.

The vacuum cleaner is provided with a pair of horizontally. extending,substantially parallel, transversely spaced duct means forsimultanestreams of dust-laden air from the sweeping portion 4 into thedust-collecting chamber in the rear of the vacuum cleaner. Such ductsare generally indicated at 2| and 22, the bottom of such ducts beingformed bythe portion 5 of the base whereas the top of such ductsconsists of the virtually horizontal, transversely extending partitionmembers 23 and 24. The frontal portions of such partition members 23 and24 merge above the sweeper port 4 into a downwardly and rearwardlycurving edge portion 25 spaced from the upwardly curving edge portion 3of the base and the front housing The rearward edge of these virtuallyhorizontal, transverse partitions 23 and 24 merge with or are connectedto a substantially vertical, transverse partition 21 positioned withinthe middle third of the entire device.- The transverse partition 21 doesnot extend below the horizontal partitions 23 and 24.

The transverse partition 21 is provided with an axial port over which asuitable air filter or air cleaner 28 may be removably attached as, forexample, by means of a bayonet point fitting 29. In the drawings, theair filter is shown provided ously admitting two substantially parallelcofluent cameos 4 with a porounwoven, wire pad or filtering surface. 7

The lower suction ducts 2i and 22 are spaced and separated by a mountingblock which supports a motor 34. The mounting block may either be solidor may comprise a virtually U- shaped extension of the motor housing,such downward extension being connected to the base member I asindicated at 33'. The motor 3. is provided with a fan 3| having an axialinlet cooperating with the port in the transverse vertical partition 21.The motor 20, fan II, and air filter 28 are therefore in alignment andare centrally positioned with respect to the side walls of the device.The fan 3| is provided with a pair of opposed outlets, such as 32, suchoutlets discharging into the return duct forwardly of the transversepartition 21 and above the substantially horizontal partitions 23 and24.

The motor 30 not only drives the fan 3| but also may be used to drive abrush carried upon a shaft 33 journaled in vertically adjustablebearings mounted in levers 34 attached to the sides 2 of the base memberi. Since the suction ducts 2| and 22 should not contain dead air spaces,Fig. 3 shows a filler 35 carried by the lower surface of the partitions23 and 24 immediately in the rear of the upper portion of the brush. Thebrush may be driven by means of a flexible belt 31 from the shaft of themotor 30.

It will be noticed that in the arrangement described the suction ducts2| and 22 direct the dust-laden air tangentially into the rounded, rear,dust-collecting zone 20 and discharge into such zone at opposite sidesthereof. In this manner the dust-collecting zone 24 is concurrentlysupplied with two virtually parallel streams of dust-laden air flowingin the same general direction. These two streams of air are caused toturn toward one another by reason of the rounded, curving rear portionii of the housing. Simultaneously, air is'withdrawn from thedustcollecting chamber at a central point through the air cleaner.

As shown in Fig. 4, therefore, dust-laden air enters the dust-collectingchamber as indicated by the arrows 40 and 40, dust and large foreignparticles continuing along the walls of the dustcollecting chamber inopposing directions as indicated by the dash lines 4| and 4|, whereasthe air and some fine dust quickly reverse their direction as indicatedby the arrows 42 and 42' and are moved frontally through the air cleanerand fan as indicated by the arrows 43. The heavy dust will be found tocollect in the rear, rounded portion of the housing or dust-collectingchamher. A very small amount of light dust will be found on the surfacesof the air cleaner. The centrifugal motion imparted to the dust-ladenair throws dust particles out of the air streams and thereby reduces theload upon the air filter. It will be noticed that a complete reversal indirection of the air streams is obtained in substantially the same planehorizontally.

The clean air returned above the transverse partitions 23 and 24 isdirected by the front curving portion of the housing I] onto and acrossthe sweeper port 4. It may be noted that this return duct is ofnarrowest or smallest cross-section adjacent the sweeper port. For somereason not fully understood it has been found desirable that suctionducts 2| and 22 be of smallest cross-sectional area at their point ofdischarge into the enlarged dust-collecting chamber 24.

Moreover, it has been found that the crosssectional area of each of thesuction ducts (at its zone of minimum area) should be substantially thesame as the minimum area of the return duct I so that the two suctionducts have a cross-sectional area approximately twice as great as thecross-sectional area of the return duct at its minimum. The area of thesweeper port does not appear to be critical and exceeds the totalminimum areas of both suction ducts and return duct.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the details ofconstruction shown incidentally in the drawings appended hereto may bematerially varied. The essential characteristics of the presentinvention lie in the provision of a pair of substantially parallelspaced suction ducts discharging simultaneously in opposing tangential 1directions into a common, rounded, enlarged,

dust-collecting chamber from which air is removed at a centrallypositioned zone spaced from the side walls, top and bottom of thedust-collecting chamber, so that the two incoming, dust-laden airstreams discharge heavier particles by centrifugal action and oppositionalong the walls of the rounded, dust-collecting chamber, while a singleclean air stream is discharged from such chamber in a direction directlyopposed to the direction of movement or the incoming dustladen streams.

Although the method of operation has been described as it specificallypertains to vacuum cleaners of the household type, the same mode ofoperation may also be used in dust collectors or air cleaners of astationary type and not of the portable type required for a vacuumcleaner.

All changes and modifications coming within the scope of the appendedclaims are embraced thereby.

I claim:

1. A compact, low, self contained vacuum cleaner comprising: a housinghaving a substantially straight transverse front portion and rearwardlyextending sides, said sides curving upwardly and inwardly to form arounded rear portion; a base for said housing, said base having afrontally positioned, transversely extending sweeping port; a portion ofthe side walls constituting the rounded rear portion of the vacuumcleaner being integral with a bottom for said rounded rear portion andselectively removable from the vacuum cleaner; a pair of substantiallyparallel spaced suction ducts within the housing, the suction ductscommunicating the sweeper port with opposite sides of the rounded rearportion, the said rounded portion directing the air fiow from thesuction ducts in opposite and opposing directions; means including amotor, fan and air filter in horizontal, axial, longitudinal alignmentwithin the housing, said air filter extending into the rounded rearportion but spaced from the walls thereof, whereby foreign mattercarried by air streams entering the rear portion through said parallelspaced ducts is deposited in the rounded portion while the air isaxially and forwardly withdrawn from the rear portion through said airfilter; and a return duct within the housing extending from said fan toa position in advance of the sweeper port for returning the air anddistributing the same along the transverse width of said sweeper port.

2. In a vacuum cleaner including a housing having a front portion and arear portion, said rear portion having sides curving upwardly andinwardly to form a rounded rearwall for said housing. a base for saidhousing, a transversely extending sweeping port adjacent the forward endof said base, a rotatable brush mounted above and extending within saidsweeping port, a pair of longitudinally extending transversely spacedsuction ducts connecting the. said sweeping port with opposite sides ofthe said rear portion of said housing to cause the air fiow from thesuction ducts to oppose one another, means for setting up a suction ofair through said ducts and rotating said brush, an air filter associatedwith said means, and a single return duct connecting the said rearportion of said housing with the said sweeping port, the said returnduct terminating in a transversely rearwardly extending jetting portlocated within said housing and above the lowermost plane of saidsweeping port.

3. A compact, low, self-contained vacuum cleaner comprising: a housinghaving a substantially straight transverse front portion and rearwardlyextending sides, said sides curving upwardly and inwardly to form arounded rear portion; a base for said housing, said base having afrontally positioned transversely extending sweeping port; a pair ofsubstantially parallel spaced suction ducts within the housing, thesuction ducts communicating the sweeper port with opposite sides of therounded rear portion to cause the air fiow from the suction ducts tooppose one another; an air filter unit centrally positioned andlongitudinally disposed in the rear portion and spaced from the wallsthereof; a single return duct in communication with the frontal portionof the sweeper port and overlying the suction ducts; a motor and anassociated fan, said motor, fan and air filter unit being disposed inhorizontal, axial, longitudinal alignment within the housing, said fanincluding an axial inlet in communication with the air filter unit andincluding outlets in communication with the return duct, foreign mattercarried by the air stream from the suction ducts being deposited in therounded rear portion while the air stream returns through the filter,fan and return duct to the sweeper port.

4. A vacuum cleaner of the character stated in claim 3, characterized inthat the area of each of the suction ducts at its minimum crosssectionis at a ratio of about 1:1 to the minimum cross-sectional area of thereturn duct adjacent the sweeper port.

' FREDERICK K. STORM, J 11.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,007,799 Rowbotham Nov. 7, 19111,007,800 Rowbotham Nov. 7, 1911 1,383,456 Farnsworth July 5, 19211,507,271 Bennett Sept. 2, 1924 1,556,021 Orr Oct. 6, 1925 1,656,031Aalborg Jan. 10, 1928 1,664,092 Squires Mar. 27, 1928 1,742,671 SquiresJan. 7, 1930 1,999,667 Smellie Apr. 30, 1935 2,167,786 Taylor Aug. 1,1939 2,221,746 Kirby Nov. 12, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date398,849 Germany 1924 129.556 Switzerland 1929

